In 2002, Raynor gave a dozen checks to the optometrists' state political action committee to support its political efforts. Months later, in April 2003, Decker cashed four of those checks, each for $100. They did not go into Decker's campaign account, and they are not recorded in his campaign finance reports.

"If someone walked up to the bank teller and cashed that check, stuck it in his billfold and used it to go to the movies, would you consider that to be a proper use of your monies?" state elections board chairman Larry Leake asked.

"No sir," Raynor replied.

Raynor and 11 other optometrists testified at a formal inquiry by the State Board of Elections on Wednesday that they gave campaign checks to the N.C. State Optometric Society's political action committee that left blank the date they signed them and the line indicating the recipient.

Someone later filled in those details, providing a few thousand dollars worth of checks that Decker cashed and several others that he deposited in his campaign account.

Other checks went into the campaigns of other lawmakers, including House Speaker Jim Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat and an optometrist. It was not clear, based on Wednesday's testimony, who filled in the missing details.

Raynor and the other optometrists testified that they entrusted the PAC's treasurer, Michael Scott Edwards, a Murfreesboro optometrist, to decide how to distribute the political dough. But the practice, which some testified had gone on for years, appeared to run afoul of several state election laws covering the disclosure of campaign money and contribution limits.

Edwards, who has been subpoenaed to testify but was not called Wednesday, declined to comment.

Bob Hall, research director for Democracy North Carolina, a nonprofit campaign finance watchdog that initiated the inquiry, said the PAC found a way to funnel thousands of dollars to candidates without the public finding out. Donors of $100 or less do not have to be identified on campaign reports.

"The public is going to think this is a totally corrupt organization," Hall said. "The whole thing just smells bad."

Political action committees are private groups organized to elect or defeat government officials in order to promote legislation, often supporting the group's special interests.

Decker, who lost his seat representing Forsyth County in the 2004 Republican primary, received the checks after he had switched political parties just before the start of the 2003 legislative session. By joining the Democratic Party, Decker deadlocked the state House and allowed Black to retain the speakership in a powersharing agreement with Republican state Rep. Richard Morgan of Moore County.

Wednesday's testimony -- the opening day of the board's inquiry into possible illegal campaign activity -- centered on the financial windfall that came to Decker and his campaign in early 2003.

In addition to the optometrists' contributions, four lawyers with ties to the video poker industry testified that they either gave or helped raise $2,500 for Decker at the time of the switch.

Those donations appeared on Decker's campaign reports.

The lawyers all work for Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, one of the state's largest law firms. Its clients have included a major video poker operator and the industry's association.

"The checks came in, and I transmitted them to the speaker, to the best of my knowledge," said Alexander "Sandy" Sands, a former state lawmaker who now works as a lobbyist for the firm.

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